Missing the Obvious
by JustAnotherAuthorDurping
Summary: Written for Tokka Week three, day six's prompt 'Blind Leading the Blind.' “Hey, you’re the one who wanted to explore this place. You’re just lucky that you have me to get you out of here, since you got us lost and all, map-guy.”


A/N: This takes place about… five, six years after the war? Which would make Toph 17-18 and Sokka 20-21. Of course I take the most literal meaning of the prompt 'blind leading the blind'. Sorry it's so rushed and everything – I have company over and don't have time to edit it. Comments/critique are definitely welcome!

**Missing the Obvious: **

"For the last time Sokka, would you stop kicking my heel with your ginormous man feet?"

"Maybe if you didn't walk so slowly, I wouldn't be hitting them." He paused. "And my feet aren't _that_ big!"

There was an abrupt stop and Sokka's torso slammed into Toph's back, though her rigid body remained unmoving. Her hand left his and despite the fact that he could not see her in the overwhelming darkness, he felt her spin about and lean closely towards him, her index finger jabbing him squarely in the chest.

"Stop." Poke. "Kicking." A harder poke. "My heel." With her final words, Toph's finger left his chest and instead flicked him in the center of the forehead. "Every time you do that it sends a million vibrations up my legs and everything gets fuzzy. Do you _want_ to get out of here, Meathead?"

"Ow! Yes, I do want to get out of here!" Sokka rubbed irately at his forehead and his voice grew louder with frustration. "I keep tripping over dumb, stupid rocks I can't see! I _hate_ not being able to see anything!"

Over an hour of following Toph through the dark tunnels, trusting her to bring them back to the surface safely had made them both increasingly irritable. Unfortunately, Sokka did not understand his slight until Toph snorted.

"Not being able to see? Well, I can only imagine how horrible _that_ feels." Her voice was the epitome of sarcasm and ill temper. Grabbing his hand roughly, she started pulling him in the right direction again; he stumbled after her, cringing as realization hit him.

Sokka groaned. "That didn't come out how I wanted it to," he muttered sheepishly, using his free hand to wipe at his face.

Toph stubbornly blew her bangs away (they had a tendency of tickling her cheeks), but slowed down all the same. Under normal circumstances, he would not of said such a thing and under normal circumstances, she would not have not been or reacted bothered by it. She stopped, only this time it was gradual and Sokka did not ram into her.

"Uh, why aren't we walking?" he queried, this time his tone softer.

"Let's just… take a quick break, ok? We're getting a little too cranky and need to calm down a bit." Toph led them to the side of the tunnel and slid down the wall to sit. Sokka followed suit, his hand not leaving hers, as though he were afraid she might play some terrible prank on him and leave him alone in the darkness.

Hmm, maybe another time.

Exhaling slowly, Toph closed her eyes and patiently waited for both of their heart rates to slow down. Sokka's heartbeat remained uneasily fast and his palm felt clammy against hers. She pulled her hand away, reassuring him with a quick pinch on the arm that she was still there.

"Jeez Sokka, you're such an old lady. Are you that scared of the dark?" she teased, trying to lighten the mood. She of course was not troubled by it – why would she be? _She_ could see perfectly fine.

He still sounded anxious and his voice rose a few octaves when he spoke again. "More afraid of what's _in_ the dark, more or less."

"Hey, you're the one who wanted to explore this place. You're just lucky that you have me to get you out of here, since you got us lost and all, map-guy."

She could practically feel his pout. "It's not my fault the torches didn't last as long as they were supposed to. And I _did_ know where we were going! We just accidentally took a slight detour… somewhere…"

"Right…" Toph could still feel his erratic pulse, so she shook her head and continued, "If there were something big and scary coming towards us, trust me, I'd feel it. The only things in here with us are cave-hoppers and gopher-mice. It's another hour tops until we reach the mouth of the cave and then _hello_ freedom."

Sokka sighed. "And angry Katara."

" Hmm. Let's try to focus more on the freedom rather then a pissed off Sugar Queen."

"Good thinking." He paused.

"Hey Toph?"

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask you something?"

The blind earthbender couldn't resist. "You just did," she said, a smirk pulling the corner of her lips upwards.

Sokka groaned, "You know what I mean."

Stretching her legs out in front of her, she crossed her ankles over one another and closed her eyes, shrugging nonchalantly. "Sure, Snoozles - shoot."

"Do you know what I look like?"

The question startled her; taken aback, she could only ask bluntly, "What?"

He shifted next to her, his eyebrows furrowing deeply while he stared forward into nothingness. "What I mean is… well, you can see us – where we are, that is. But do you know what me, Zuko, Katara, and Aang… do you know what we look like?"

Toph's own black eyebrows pinched together – during their five-year friendship, Sokka was never one to ask many personal questions, and she had to admit that this one was pretty much the icing on the cake. "Well, sort of," she confessed. "I know Aang is bald and kind of short. Katara is pretty with long hair and blue eyes. Zuko is tall with a scar on his left eye. And you're… well, you have a ponytail, Ponytail." She smirked.

Surprisingly, Sokka did not have some offended comeback to her remark about his choice of hairstyle (which was _not_ a ponytail!). Instead, he seemed to droop a bit.

"That's it?" he asked.

She frowned, replying, "What do you mean 'that's it'? I don't care what you guys look like, noodle brain."

Toph felt him heave his shoulders next to her. "I know that. I just mean… that… well, there's a lot more to someone then just _that_. Take you for example."

"Me?"

"Yeah. Now, I could say you're tiny – _ow_! Well, you _are_!"

"Just continue," Toph told him, her fist retreating back to her side.

Sokka pursed his lips. "As I was saying… I could say you're ti-, I mean, you're of… small stature?"

She just rolled her eyes.

"Right. So I could say you're of small stature and have black hair. But that doesn't really paint the picture, does it? Then I would go on to say you're pale, with light green eyes that are sort of milky, you have pretty face, a small nose, an averaged sized mouth, strong jawbone, round chin… you getting it?"

Toph remained frowning. "I guess. What do you look like?"

"Besides incredibly _handsome_?" Sokka prodded smugly. That earned him a scoff.

"No, Meathead. What do you _look_ like? Like that stuff you said about me." Toph was suddenly grateful for the darkness for she felt her cheeks grow warm; after all, he _did_ say she had a pretty face.

Awkwardly, he muttered, "Oh. I'm not too sure I can really describe myself effectively." He waited a beat and released a breath. "I wish _you_ could see me."

_Me too_.

Silence.

"I _could_ see what you look like, if you want," Toph suggested casually (or so she hoped it sounded), pushing some dirt around on the tunnel floor with a finger.

Perking up, Sokka turned his head towards her general direction. "Really?" For a moment, he sounded excited. "But… you're blind."

"Great observation – I never knew!"

"Sorry. What I mean is… well, how?"

Toph ducked her head down. "You promise not to freak out?" Her voice sounded unexpectedly shy.

"What?" Sokka felt his lips fall. "Why?"

Not answering, Toph boldly (or stupidly, she couldn't tell) lifted her hand to where she estimated his cheek to be, and awkwardly placed it there. She felt him jump beneath her touch, his mouth moving to say something coherent but only sputtering frantically for a moment.

"Uh, w-what are you doing?" he forced out rather shakily, unfamiliar with this sort of intimate contact with Toph, the best earthbender in the world, the only known metal bender, and a girl who could most definitely crush him into pieces if she so desired. His voice echoed back to them and he cringed.

Deciding that she had to take the initiative to relax him else things would become far too embarrassing, Toph scoffed, acting as though nothing were amiss. "I'm seeing what you look like, meat for brains. Now would you just chill out?"

Sokka swallowed nervously, despite her explanation. "I'm _completely_ chilled out."

"Sokka, I can feel you lying."

His body was rigid for a few very long seconds and his heartbeat continued to remain sharp, but with a few deep breaths the water tribe boy managed to loosen up considerably. _She's just seeing what I look like, that's all_. _This is _completely_ normal._

Taking that as a welcome to continue, Toph set both hands on his jawbone, their movements synchronized. He didn't flinch – she grinned. She started with his forehead first, running fingertips along his rather high hairline that felt like a slight widow's peek. The skin of his forehead was still unmarred by any wrinkles from years of worry or anger, something Toph took into note contentedly.

Making sure to take her time, she ventured on to his ears, which she immediately determined were quite large in a goofy way. Still grinning, she continued onto his brow, then his eyes. His lashes fluttered against her fingertips as his lids fell shut, allowing her to feel the soft flesh of them, eyelids which she knew concealed a pair of bright blue irises. Lingering just a bit longer then necessary, Toph moved on over his high cheekbones, down the steep bridge of his nose, and over the smooth skin of his cheeks, filing each detail away carefully in her mind.

Finally, her fingers reached the corners of his mouth. She felt her face heat up and his skin warmed beneath her hands rather quickly (his pulse wasn't exactly calm either). _Screw embarrassment._ _This is my only chance to actually _see_ what Sokka looks like and I am not going to half ass it_, she decided firmly and lightly traced a thumb over his lips (his pulse _definitely_ spiked then) which were unsurprisingly chapped. Making sure not to linger too long there, she quickly left his mouth and lastly felt his chin that was covered with the bristle. When she was completely satisfied with her 'viewing', Toph reluctantly dropped her hands and turned away from his face.

"You have a big forehead," she told him offhandedly, reveling in the odd sensation she had on her fingertips yet still aware of how weird the moment could get; and she was _not_ going to let this melt into an uncomfortable silence. Unfortunately, the only way she knew how to prevent that was through jest.

Sokka jumped at the sound of her voice, apparently in some sort of daze. "What?"

"I said that you have a big forehead, Snoozles. And now that I think about it, it's more of a five-head it's so big. I knew I was right all along to call you meathead," Toph snickered, poking him in the temple.

"Oh… wait, what?" He shook out of his stupor. "My forehead's not big - it's average!" He reached up and rubbed a hand across said facial part self-consciously. "Maybe yours is just freakishly small."

Toph grinned. "Whatever makes you sleep at night, five-head. Now let's get moving – I'm starving and Sparky promised roasted hippo-duck for dinner tonight."

Sokka felt her hand grasp his once more, only this time their fingers laced unconsciously. She pulled him up, and they started moving again.

They walked quickly, not resuming their conversation but remaining comfortably quiet.

Sokka brought his free hand up to his mouth and touched in carefully, aware of the strange feeling that Toph's fingers left on it. Then he noticed their intertwined hands for a second time and glanced down in the darkness where he assumed them to be. Then… something clicked.

_Wait… have I been missing something?_


End file.
